Black and Gay in the UK: An Anthology

by John R. Gordon (Editor/Contributor), Rikki Beadle-Blair (Editor/Contributor), Ade Adeniji

A ground-breaking, provocative and diverse anthology of writing about black gay men's lives in the UK - essays, activist memoirs, (auto)biographies, poems and fiction, edited by multi-award-winning writers Rikki Beadle-Blair and John R Gordon. Contributors are: Adam Lowe, Ade Adeniji, Anu Olu, Bisi Alimi, Cheikh Traore, Cyril Nri, Daniel Fry, 'Danse Macabre', David McAlmont, Dean Atta, Diriye Osman, Donovan Christian-Carey, Donovan Morris, D'relle Wickham (Khan). Edd Muruako, Geoffrey Williams, Giles Terera, Jimmy Akingbola, John R Gordon, Keith Jarrett, Leee John, Leo Ofori, 'Merlin', Mickel Smithen, Paul J Medford, P J Samuels, Rhys Wright, Rikki Beadle-Blair, Dr Rob Berkeley, Robert Taylor, Rogue Scott, Reverend Rowland Jide Macaulay, Salawu Olajide, Tonderai Munyevu, Topher Campbell, Travis Alabanza, Z Jai Walsh

Genres: Queer

358 pages, Paperback

First published October 20, 2014

About the author

John R. Gordon lives and works in London, England. He is the author of three novels, Black Butterflies, (GMP 1993), for which he won a New London Writers' Award; Skin Deep, (GMP 1997); and Warriors & Outlaws (GMP 2001), both of which have been taught on graduate and post-graduate courses on Race & Sexuality in Literature in the United States. He script-edited and wrote for the world's first black gay television show, Patrik-Ian Polk's Noah's Arc (2005-6). In 2007 he wrote the autobiography of America's most famous black gay porn star from taped interviews he conducted, My Life in Porn: the Bobby Blake Story, (Perseus 2008). In 2008 he co-wrote the screenplay for the cult Noah's Arc feature-film, Jumping the Broom (Logo) for which he received a NAACP Image Award nomination. The same year his short film Souljah (directed by Rikki Beadle-Blair) won the Soho Rushes Award for Best Film.

Reviews

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was gripping honestly. The vast nature of the content astounded me. I picked this up from the library without knowing what was in at and wasn't expecting a swath of styles and mediums. From memoirs to essays to poetry and script transcripts. Honestly the different mediums really helped I think, it gave the book a pace that say, a selection of essays wouldn't have? I finished it in a single day and will probably reread it a few times before returning it. I espechially loved the poetry by Dean Atta and am really glad to have a new poet to look out for. And the poem by Paul J. Medford was so quietly beautiful. Dear Father by Danse Macabre made me nearly cry, from the very first line "I am involved in the most beautiful self loathing which' was unfortunate since I was reading this on my break in work. Honestly this book was beautiful and a rly good read on top of being an important read.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book to step outside of yourself and see the world through different angles. The anthology is occasionally how a black person in the U.K. sees African Americans; it's occasionally how black Africans in the U.K. relate to their mother countries; it's occasionally they see white people in the U.K and of course about how they see themselves. I live in California and I really enjoyed this. These perspectives are not often heard.

Once I cried and several times I was amused. Like all anthologies it's uneven -- a few times I struggled to finish -- but at the end a new story was waiting.

[Bethan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant!

[silly_ebadu · Rating 5 out of 5]

insanely good anthology of black queer writings that can help us contextualise a lot of what’s happening in the current culture war being stirred up by the conservative party. ‘dear father’ by danse macabre tore my heart out. this is a wonderful and very affirming read, esp. for black and black mixed race people who have come out later in life